Monimail Community Council

Minutes of meeting, 13th February 2006

1. Present : A. Arbuckle; N. Black; D. Dallas; M. Farrell; W. Fenton; J. Finnie; B. Forrest; J. Gordon; D.

Hamilton; L. Harvie, H. Hutchison; M. Kidd; A. MacGilchrist; G. Mossman; T. Nesbitt; J. Rotheram; G. Smith, J. Vaughan B. Ayres; B Cannon; R. McPherson – all Hanson C. Gilbert (Fife Council Locality Manager)

2. Apologies : C. Bache; P. Laidlaw 3. Minutes of Previous Meeting : minutes of the meeting 12/12/05 were accepted. 4. Letham Primary School Eco-Group :

Mrs Gibb, Headteacher, introduced the School’s Eco-Initiative group which comprises : Ciara Black; Sarah Farrell; Thomas Farrell; Hamish Fenton; Sarah Finnie; Darren Mutch; Jason Moffat; Rachel Rotheram; Scott Smith

The Eco-group was formed last year to make the school more aware of their Environment. They have started various Waste Minimisation initiatives and want the whole Community to be involved and aware. Waste was highlighted as being bad for the planet. The pupils took it in turn to present to the meeting various projects and areas being looked at : - School Grounds : need to introduce Nature and grow plants in the school grounds. A Willow Sculpture was created a few years ago and this is pruned annually. The cuttings are then used to make things in the school. A hedge has been planted and this is now protected from wildlife, along with a Bird Station (table and bath). - Litter : every week a litter team walk around and clean up the playground. The pupils asked the members of the Community to help by not dropping their litter – it smells, looks horrible, not good for wildlife and items such as cans and glass are dangerous - Energy : in the morning unnecessary lights in the classrooms and toilets are switched off to save energy. Scottish Power have supplied a large number of Energy Saving Lightbulbs which the pupils have distributed throughout the local community ( bulbs were available for anyone present at this meeting along with a survey sheet). The electricity meter is read weekly, pc’s are switched off every night, TV’s are not left on “stand-by” and hot water never left running - Health & Well-being : Playtimes are quite energetic with pupils playing tig and/or football at every opportunity. The whole school does PE once a week in Cupar and there is Football Training every Tuesday. A trip was made to Lendrick-Muir Activity Centre where pupils took part in canoeing and abseiling. There was also the “jump for Heart” fitness campaign a couple of years ago. The steps up to the school also help keep everyone fit! - Waste : Reduce

Recycle Re-use

Every year each family produces 1 tonne of waste and every 4½ minutes, an Olympic-sized swimming pool could be filled with waste produced in the UK! The school uses scrap paper bins to collect paper for recycling and request that the community help cut down waste by using both sides of a sheet of paper when writing etc. Letham itself has a small bottle bank but an excellent recycling facility exists locally at Melville Land-fill site and the pupils urged everyone to make best use of recycling. The hope is that the Community will become more Eco-friendly for Generations to come. The Chair thanked all the members of the Eco-group for coming along to the meeting and telling everyone what excellent work and Environmental Awareness is being carried out at the school. In turn, Mrs Gibb thanked the CC for the opportunity to come along and let everyone be aware of how important these initiatives are for the whole community.

5. Matters Arising : - Play Park : Cathy Bache has been helping with this project and discussions have taken place with

the school so that the same funding sources are not sought as the school play area is also being upgraded. J. Vaughan has written to Fife Council asking them what they have planned as it was

reported last year that money was to be set aside for the Letham Park Play Area for the next financial year.

- Twinning : Nothing much to report other than a junior football match is due to take place. Final arrangements are currently being made and details will be posted soon.

- Dog Fouling : Nothing to report 6. BEAR (Toll Junction) :

An extra meeting was held and minutes distributed. A response to their draft has been sent. The bus-stops have been removed and hopefully will be sited further back from the road to improve visibility. There was actually a team out today carrying out a survey of the junction.!

7. Core Paths : A Public Consultation for the next stage of the “Core Path Network”, which includes

Monimail and Letham, is to take place over the next month or so. Posters will be put up in the village and area advising of times and venues for these consultations, with Ladybank being the nearest to this community..

8. Best Kept Village / Grant

£500 Floral Enhancement Grant has been awarded and as agreed last year this is to be used to improve the beds at the front area of the Hall to help with an improved visual impact near the Village entrance.

9. Village Hall

The ramp is now fully complete and an Official Opening is to take place on Thursday 16th February at

2.30pm. More good news for the Hall is that we have been awarded £6000 from Lloyds TSB to go towards building a Disabled Toilet in the Hall. The Committee are currently getting together information to send out to tender for this work and once in will be seeking further funding

10. Questions for Cllr Arbuckle There were no questions!

11. Mountcastle Quarry / Hanson

Hanson Aggregates are currently finalising a planning application to extend their existing quarrying operation to an area across the main road. Hanson had requested they present their proposal to this meeting however due to the fact that the CC notices had already been sent out it was agreed they will do a presentation to the April meeting so the CC have time to inform the whole Community about it. However, due to this meeting being shorter than anticipated a brief discussion took place and various maps and plans were shown on an informal basis. A full presentation will be made to the next meeting

12. Date of Next Meeting

Monday 10th April 2006, Letham Village Hall, 7.30pm